Cosina announced the new Voigtlander Nokton 60mm F0.95 lens, the fifth luminous prime lens available for Micro Four Thirds cameras, and an excellent new addition to any videographers tool kit.

If you use Micro Four Thirds cameras, love luminous lenses and extremely shallow depth of field, then Cosina has good news for you: the new Voigtlander Nokton 60mm F0.95 lens for Micro Four Thirds, a new lens that now extends to five the number of Nokton F0.95 lenses available for MFT.

With a focal length that is equivalent to 120mm in the 35mm format, the Voigtlander Nokton 60mm F0.95 lens is capable of focusing at only 34 cm, making it a good option for some macro-like shooting, either stills or video, as it offers a magnification of 1:4 (or 1:2 if you compare it to 35mm. A manual focus lens, the Nocton 60mm F0.95 is also ideal for portrait, and is suited for video, because it offers an aperture switching mechanism that allows the aperture ring to be opened and closed steplessly without generating a click sound.

The de-clicking mechanism, which takes the name Selective Aperture Control System is present in all the Voigtlander Nokton F0.95 lenses, making the five lenses ideal for video, something that users of Panasonic and Olympus should consider when buying a kit of lenses for video. The Micro Four Thirds mount is also used by Blackmagic Design cinema cameras, meaning that any user of those cameras can explore the options available in Voigtlander’s collection of very fast lenses.

A choice of lenses from 21 to 120mm

As mentioned above, the Voigtlander Nokton 60mm F0.95 lens is the fifth lens from Cosina offering a very luminous aperture. The others are the 10.5mm, 17.5mm, 25mm and 42.5mm optics, which, offer focal lenghts that, when compared to 35mm, are double the one inscribed on the lens barrel. This means videographers have a choice of 21mm, 35mm, 50mm, 85mm and now 120mm at their disposal, all with Selective Aperture Control System.

Here is some more info on the four lenses already available:

• Nokton 10.5mm F0.95
  This is a super wide-angle lens for MFT. The angle of view 93° is equivalent to 21mm wide lens (crop factor: x2).  With 13 elements in 10 groups with Super High Refractive element and Aspherical element,  a 10 blade aperture diaphragm which is a constant in this family, offers excellent bookeh.
• Nokton 17.5mm F0.95
  This wide-angle lens exclusive for Micro Four Thirds mount features a angle of view 64.6° is equivalent to 35mm wide lens (crop factor : x2). With 13 elements in 9 groups with Super High Refractive element and Aspherical element, a 10 blade aperture diaphragm, a full metal barrel the lens, this is a popular focal length lens ideal low lighting situations.
• Nokton 25mm F0.95
  The new standard lens designed for Micro Four Thirds offers a 47.3°natural angle of view. The previous version of the lens did not have Selective Aperture Control System, which appears in the Type II model. With 11 elements in 8 groups, the lens share many of the family specifications, including full metal barrel with high toughness and durability, manual focusing and beautiful bokeh, produced by a 10 blade aperture diaphragm.
• Nokton F0.95 42.5mm
  This is a medium telephoto lens exclusive for Micro Four Thirds mount. The angle of view 30.5° is equivalent to 85mm (crop factor: x2). With a construction based on 11 elements in 8 groups with Super High Refractive element, the lens features the family specifications expected from a Voigtlander Nokton  F0.95 lens.

The  Voigtlander Nokton 60mm f/0.95 now announced will be available in Japan in April for ¥145,000 (+/- $1,300). No information, yet, about price and availability outside of the Japanese market.